The Epistle of Jude and the Body of Moses

On the death and burial of Moses, it is recorded: “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth his sepulchre unto this day.” By Hebrew idiom, the “He” may be indefinite, as the English “one,” and so the phrase could be rendered “he was buried. . . .” However, in antiquity it was generally taken that “He” referred to the Lord, and that such a burial would account for the phenomenon of the unknown sepulchre. During the first few centuries A.D., an apocryphal book was extant which purported to give an account of the events connected with Moses’ death, and several writers of this period say that Jude refers to this book in his epistle. The book, or at least that part of it which is alleged to be connected with Jude’s epistle, is no longer extant; it was called The Assumption (or Ascension) of Moses. Here are ancient references to it.

(1) Clement of Alexandria (died c. 215), commenting on Jude 1:9, says: “Here he confirms The Assumption of Moses.”

(2) Origen (died c. 253) “. . . in the Ascension of Moses, a book referred to by Jude in his epistle. . . .”

To continue reading this Bible article, click here.

Author: W. G. Lambert

Keywords: Jude and the Book of Enoch, Archangel Michael, Michael the archangel, Michael, body of Moses, Death of Moses, Burial of Moses

Bible reference(s): Deu 34:5-6, Jude 1:9, Jude 1:14-15

Source: “The Epistle of Jude and the Body of Moses,” The Testimony, Vol. 16, No. 189, September 1946, pp. 241-2.

Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.